“HEY, NADINE, how do you feel?” Luke bent down over the girl. She looked so frail, bruised, and battered. But even with two black eyes and a puffy face, she could still focus, and she was awake. He’d spoken to Bill after coffee with Ice Age and knew about the video Nadine sent Abby. He hoped Nadine would be able to answer a few questions while her mom stepped out for coffee.

“I’m sore, Pastor Luke.” Nadine sounded as if her mouth were full of marbles.

“Then take it easy. Don’t talk if it’s hard.”

“It’s okay. My mom said you never stopped looking for me.”

“Of course not. I am the number one shamus, aren’t I?”

That brought a crooked smile to her face.

“Do you remember anything about what happened to you?”

The smile faded. “No. I remember running away from Crunchers. There were two men; they threatened me, took my phone . . .” Her brows scrunched together and she seemed to be in pain.

“No rush, Nadine. No rush.” He patted her shoulder.

“I want to remember, but that’s about it. I know I was scared. But . . .”

“Do you remember mailing something to Detective Hart?”

Her concentration looked pained.

“It’s okay, Nadine. You rest. Things will sort themselves out, I’m sure.”

Glynnis came back into the room with two coffees, and Luke groaned inside. She was trying to move close and he didn’t want to hurt her. And he had too much work to do to stay for coffee.

“Oh, baby, it’s so good to see your eyes open.” Glynnis handed Luke his coffee and bent down to give Nadine a kiss. “I hope you feel better.”

“I do, Mom. I do.”

Luke cleared his throat. “I better be going.”

Glynnis turned toward him. “Luke, I thought you’d stay for lunch!”

“I’m up to my neck in work. I’ll have to take a rain check.”

Glynnis argued for a bit, but Luke won out. He needed to look into the threat on his life. He’d worked all weekend, talking to neighbors, asking if anyone had seen anything out of the ordinary. He’d gotten the description of a car, and he hoped that lead would take him somewhere.

His parents were with Madison; they’d opted to spend the whole week in the mountains after the homeschool weekend. Luke had asked them to be vigilant, to notice people around them. The best he could guess was that the two men who accosted him had taken the picture of Maddie and her friend in the driveway just after the meeting with Governor Rollins. It bothered him that he’d not noticed anything out of place, but then he hadn’t expected any issues.

He left the hospital for the Seal Beach PD and a meeting with Detective Wright about the two men who jumped him on the bike path. Seal Beach gave Wright a place to work so he didn’t have to travel back and forth to Santa Ana, where the OCSD offices were. Luke was anxious for the meeting; he’d been praying that the men who jumped him would finally be identified.

Fred Wright met him in the lobby. “Hey, Murphy, you don’t look so bedraggled today.” He extended his hand.

Luke shook it. “Or as waterlogged, I’ll bet. Thanks for talking to me.”

“No problem. Let’s go to my makeshift office.”

Luke followed Wright back to a conference room and took a seat near the head of the table while Wright sat at the head.

“Thanks for enlisting the help of your fed friend. We got a name on the dead man now, from the military data bank.”

“So soon? I gave Orson that info this morning.”

“He punched the right buttons. Name was Gordon West. His DD-214 indicates a dishonorable discharge twenty years ago.”

“Gordon West, huh?”

“Yep. I found a brief trail for him after he left the military. He worked for a multinational private security force for a while. I don’t know if he still works for them. They won’t give me any information, citing privacy issues.”

“Did Orson have anything to add?”

“He mentioned the guy seemed to be living off the grid. It’s possible he was fired and then found someone shady to work for.”

“That would jibe with the dishonorable discharge.”

“Yep, but doesn’t really help us find who sent him to threaten you. Ballistics won’t help because the fragment that killed him can’t tell us much.”

“The only answers will come when we find out who did the Triple Seven murders. It seems like that killer would be the only person with motive to try to scare me off.”

“I agree. I asked my captain to see if we can get together with LB and reactivate the cold case.”

Luke’s spirits soared. “That’s awesome, something I’ve wanted to have happen for such a long time. Detective Hart knows the case inside and out.”

Wright shook his head. “I don’t think I’ll work with her. I think Carney and O’Reilly would be the ones assigned if it’s reactivated.”

Luke remembered Abby had told him that. Both those men went to his church, and he knew they would do a great job. But this should be Abby’s gig.